Teaching Human Rights Online
http://oz.uc.edu/thro

Howard Tolley, Jr.
University of Cincinnati
Howard.Tolley@uc.edu

The American Political Science Association Information Technology and Politics Section selected Teaching Human Rights Online (THRO) as this year's best web site in political science.  The award was presented at the APSA annual meeting in San Francisco on September 1. 

THRO provides six free online exercises and interactive study guides for use as course modules in political science, international relations, area studies, philosophy, history, and women’s studies; as well as professional classes in law, education, and business. 

Students who work the problems online or on CD-ROM receive immediate, individualized feedback to forced choice and short answer self assessment questions designed to enhance critical thinking skills. Each peer-reviewed case can also be printed from a single file for use in hardcopy.

Teaching Notes explain how to use the online modules for in-class discussion and collaborative learning simulation exercises supported by email and electronic bulletin board communication. A global network of THRO associates conducts online text and H.323 internet videoconference simulations and discussions between students from different colleges in the U.S. and abroad. Actual rather than hypothetical human rights disputes are used to promote cross cultural communication with asynchronous and synchronous text, audio, and video software.

Faculty at over twenty universities have used THRO exercises that challenge students to make informed, well reasoned choices in classes on International Governance, Ethics and International Relations, Comparative Government, Human Rights, Modern World History, Critical Thinking, Philosophy of Law, Women’s Rights, Educational Philosophy, and Social Change.            

University of Cincinnati Political Science Professor Howard Tolley, Jr. directs the project in collaboration with Professor Dan Wheeler, College of Education, and Bert Lockwood, Jr. Director, Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, College of Law and Editor in Chief of the Human Rights Quarterly. A global network currently includes faculty associates in Australia, India, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and ten U.S. states.

The project has received grant support from the U.S. institute of Peace and the Ohio Learning Network. THRO cases are published as an electronic journal, ISSN 1529-2207, © All rights reserved. Individuals interested in assisting with case development, peer review, pilot tests, assessment, and training workshops should contact Howard.Tolley@uc.edu.

A JUST WAR? PRESIDENT CLINTON’S RESPONSE TO KOSOVO

The problem confronts students with the political, legal and moral choices the U.S. faced when Yugoslavia violated the human rights of Albanians in Kosovo. Background materials review Balkans history and identify the options President Clinton and his advisers considered. Students may either read the text or listen to the audio of the President's address to the nation announcing NATO air strikes. The problem challenges students to articulate a rationale for ethical decision-making in foreign policy. Spanish and French translations online and on CD-ROM:

¿Una Guerra Justa?  and Une Guerre Juste? 

THE ICJ CONSIDERS GENOCIDE: 
Bosnia v. Yugoslavia

This problem enables participants to play the role of a judge at the International Court of Justice. The case brought by Bosnia in 1993 charges genocide and seeks damages from the former Yugoslavia. Participants can explore the facts, research the law, and consider opposing arguments that support one side or the other. By identifying all the best facts and arguments that support each side, a participant can earn a perfect score of 100.

RAPE AND GENOCIDE IN RWANDA: The ICTR's Akayesu Verdict

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) heard Jean-Paul Akayesu accused of gang rapes and genocide that took the lives of 2,000 Tutsis.  The trial court chamber of two men and one woman had an unprecedented opportunity to clarify whether rape during internal armed conflict constitutes genocide as well as a crime against humanity. Nongovernmental organizations worked to "engender" the Tribunal while holding accountable the Hutu leaders who orchestrated genocide. Akayesu's appeal alleges major due process violations by the struggling ICTR.

Terrorism and Human Rights in India

The decision-forcing case presents a dilemma confronted by India’s Prime Minister Rao in 1995 following a terrorist assassination of the Punjab Chief Minister. Political rivals in upcoming national elections might exploit a weak response, but the government’s past anti-terrorist measures provoked domestic and international complaints of massive human rights violations. Prime Minister Rao must decide whether or not a) to comply with international law b) to prosecute security personnel who committed atrocities and c) to admit more international human rights observers.

Shah Bano: Muslim Women’s Rights

In Shah Bano India’s Supreme Court overruled Muslim personal law to grant alimony.   The subsequent debate over whether to restore Muslim minority rights by legislation or to extend equal rights to women of all faiths raised value conflicts that continue to polarize the country.

Slavery in Burma?  and Unocal AND THE YADANA PROJECT  (2  cases)

Widespread allegations of forced labor made Burma's military regime an international pariah in the 1990s. One case online examines Burmese villagers’ class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court charging the pipeline consortium with using forced labor conscripted by the military.  A second exercise offers a multinational business case, challenging students to consider the issue of indirect or vicarious ethical responsibility for acts committed by a joint venture partner.

last modified on
01/11/2002